Indented Head Yacht Club

About Indented Head Yacht Club

Off-the-beach sailors on the Bellarine Peninsula speak about Indented Head in slightly possessive tones, and the club there is happy to fan the flame, describing its stretch of coast as arguably the best location for off-the-beach sailing in Victoria. Whether or not you accept the claim, the fundamentals are hard to argue with: clean, clear water, a soft white sand beach to launch from and a superb grassed rigging area behind it, all facing north across Port Phillip from a spot between Portarlington and St Leonards, about 33 kilometres east of Geelong.

Indented Head Yacht Club is a dinghy club through and through, racing Olympic-class ILCAs alongside Tasars, Sabres, Impulses and Optimists over Olympic-style courses, and it states plainly that everyone from beginners to international champions is welcome. In a small township with few organised outlets for young people, the club notes that it provides the only structured youth activity in Indented Head — a role it clearly takes seriously, with a pathway that runs from five-year-olds through to national titleholders.

The club's identity has also widened in unexpected directions. Since 2023 it has been home to the Salty B!tches, a mostly female open-water swimming group who swim daily off the beach, and its annual Wreck2Reef swim has become one of the Bellarine's signature community events. Members sail and swim right through winter, so this is no fair-weather operation. Affiliated with Australian Sailing, the club mixes serious dinghy competition, grassroots teaching and community event-hosting in a way few small clubs manage.

Services

• Sailing club

Service area

Indented Head, Victoria